1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to desks and chairs for audiovisual classrooms, in particular, adjustable desks and chairs for audiovisual classrooms.
2. Description of Related Art
Along with the development and advancement of electronic technology and internet accessibility, the popularity of computers has increased year by year. As computer usage has become more widespread, computer-aided teaching methods for classes or conferences have also become more popular. Nowadays when facing students or audiences, teachers or speakers often make use of electronic devices other than books or papers, such as computers or projectors, to help with their presentations. As a result, more and more lessons and speeches are conducted in audiovisual classrooms equipped with personal computers or projectors, especially conference rooms or computer classrooms.
Take a computer classroom for example. A typical computer classroom generally has a centralized telecommunicating broadcasting teaching system, in which a controlling teaching device is connected to other controlled learning devices. The controlling teaching device can view pictures as well as receive sound from the controlled learning devices. It can also transmit pictures and sound to one or more controlled learning devices of the teacher's choosing. Therefore, teachers can achieve their goals of teaching and training students by using the computer-aided multimedia teaching and training system.
However, in a typical computer classroom, the controlling teaching device is usually set up at the teacher's desk in front of the classroom, whereas the student desks are set up in rows perpendicular to the teacher's desk, facing the middle of the room. The controlled learning devices are the computers on top of the student desks. It is very convenient if the teacher limits his/her teaching repertoire to the use of the controlling teaching device. It is less convenient if the teacher determines to use different way of teaching, such as writing on the whiteboard or conducting group discussions. If the whiteboard is being used, the students have to turn their heads in order to see the writing on the whiteboard, since the whiteboard is perpendicular to the direction their desks face. This is very uncomfortable for students' necks. There are some computer classrooms in which student desks are arranged to face the whiteboard. They allow more comfortable and adequate viewing of the teacher and the whiteboard, but are less flexible for group discussions and student interactions. If the classroom layout and configuration is adjustable, the teacher-to-student or student-to-student interactions will be enhanced.
Due to the above shortcomings, the present invention presents adjustable desks and chairs for audiovisual classrooms. The direction of the desks and chairs can be adjusted in order to increase the flexibility of using an audiovisual classroom and resolve audiovisual classroom seating arrangement issues.